On 8/3/11 2:52 PM, Mark L. Hammond wrote:
> It will be very helpful if observers will compare AOS/LOS to the ISS (until we get Keps).
>> I suspect it's behind already, but by how much?
Actually, if it was deployed against the velocity vector (i.e., thrown
out the back of the Russian section of the ISS) then it should appear
increasingly AHEAD of the ISS. The separation maneuver dropped the
altitude 1/2 orbit later to below that of the ISS, and while it climbed
back up to the ISS altitude another half orbit later, it would get there
before the ISS did. Then it would descend and ascend again, following a
curly-q pattern relative to the ISS as it moves steadily ahead.
Its poorer ballistic coefficient vs the ISS as a whole will also cause
it to move increasingly ahead of the ISS as it decays more quickly.